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• Jesus’ ministry began shortly after his baptism at the age of thirty.
• It consisted primarily of his teachings, often through parables, and his actions, through miracles.

In the New Testament book of Luke, Jesus went to the synagogue and read from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. He quoted a passage:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (NIV)

This shows that Jesus believed his words and actions would proclaim the message of God by setting people free from their sin and healing them from their illnesses.

Why did Jesus use parables?

• They were commonly used so people were used familiar with them

• They were stories which could be remembered easily

• They challenged people to work out the meaning for themselves

• They showed that Jesus understood the problems in people’s lives

• They were interesting and held the listener’s attention

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus told the story of a Jewish man walking from Jerusalem to Jericho.

On the journey he was attacked by robbers and left for dead.

Two Jewish religious leaders came along, a Priest and a Levite; both men walked past on the other side of the road.

Then a Samaritan, a traditional enemy of the Jews, came along and saw the man.

He stopped, cleaned the man’s wounds, put him onto his donkey and took him to an inn where he paid the innkeeper to care for the wounded man.

In this parable Jesus teaches that humans are to help all people regardless of race or colour and to love their enemies as well as the people they like.

In another parable Jesus used the image of a farmer sowing his crops to explain how people respond to God’s word.

The farmer sowed the seeds and they fell on different types of ground.

• The seed that fell on the path was eaten by birds

• The seed that fell on rocky ground grew quickly but it had no room for roots to go deep. When the sun came out the plants were scorched and died.

• The seeds that fell on thorny ground grew but the plants were choked by the thorny weeds.

• The seeds that fell on good soil grew and produced fruit.

In this parable Jesus taught the different ways people can respond to the message of God:

• Some are like the path, they hear the message of God but do nothing with it. Just like the birds took the seed, the business of life takes away the message of God.

• Some are like the rocky ground and though they initially believe what they heard; it is ultimately a shallow response with no roots. When trouble comes their belief dies, just as the plants died in the strong sun.

• Some are like the thorny ground who initially believe what they hear. Just as the weeds choke the crops, the worries of life choke their belief.

• However, some are like the good soil and God’s word and message will go in deep and grow. The fruit will be seen in the person actions and character.